English lavender is likely the most common of this genus, with the most cultivars. French lavender is the primary culinary species. Spanish lavender, Lavandula stoechas, should likely be more popular than it is. All lavenders live for only a few years. Spanish lavender is more likely to self sow to replace itself, though. It can naturalize in favorable situations.
Spanish lavender is an evergreen shrub of irregular form, that grows as tall as three feet. Its finely textured foliage is grayish or drab green. Individual leaves are quite narrow and only about half an inch to an inch and a half long. Roots are not finicky about soil, but are likely to rot if irrigation is generous. Spanish lavender prefers warm and sunny exposure.
Bloom begins as soon as weather warms in spring and continues into summer. Sparsely sporadic bloom can continue until autumn. Dense floral spikes stand several inches over their foliage, on bare stems. They would not be very colorful if not for their few long upper bracts. Bloom is typically lavender, but may be bluish lavender, pink or very rarely white. It delights bees.
Tony Tomeo 
I was gifted one as a house plant, but it seems to be struggling if it dries up much at all. It wilts every couple of days so I have to keep it pretty moist which I can’t imagine is good for it. It’s love, and I hope I can keep it going.
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That is a common problem for chaparral species. They survive without water in the garden because they disperse their roots so extensively. They are unable to do so while potted. Consequently, the most drought tolerant plants need the most precise watering, and ultimately, want to get into the garden before they die of rot.
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That’s funny, in the UK, Lavandula stoechas is called French lavender. Spanish lavender makes more sense as it is native to south west Spain.
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That is a common problem with common names, and why we use botanical names.
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I agree, Tony. At the risk of sounding pedantic, I am always on about this. Common names are regional, we need a language we all understand when talking about plants.
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Coincidentally, I just finished my gardening column, which was primarily about hybrids, but happened to describe how species names have been omitted from so many species, and replaced with cultivar names. For example, Acer ‘Crimson Queen’ and Acer ‘Crimson King’ lack species names, but one is a Japanese maple and the other is a Norway maple.
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